Set-up EBSCO eBooks Mobile

The EBSCO eBooks app allows users to download eBooks from your collections to their mobile devices. Take the following three steps to ensure you are maximizing your investment:

Step 1: Verify that you have an eBook mobile app profile set-up for your institution. For most customers, this was done during the initial release in 2015. For instructions on how to create an EBSCO eBooks mobile app profile in EBSCOadmin, click here.

Step 2: Make your library discoverable in the mobile app via EBSCOadmin. For instructions on how to enable the eBooks Mobile App for your institution, click here.

Step 3: Set the preferred order of authentication to meet the needs of your organization. This step is very important as it will determine the order of authentication methods the app will attempt to use to authenticate users when they log in to search for eBooks. Please take steps to verify that your most common authentication option is selected for mobile app usage.

Setting up a Preferred Authentication order

By default, the order is set to (cookie, ip, uid). If you do not modify these settings from the default the app will first look for an authentication cookie, and then check the IP address if no cookie is found. If their IP address is not recognized (i.e. user is off campus) the user will be prompted for a User ID and Password.

To enable user access to your eBook collections from anywhere - via your proxy server, library card number, Shibboleth, or even SSO (to name a few) - you need to modify this setting in EBSCOadmin. Doing so will guarantee easier access.

To update the settings, first determine which order of authentication you want the app to use. Then set-up your preferred authentication order using the steps below:

Click the Authentication Tab, then click the Preferred Authentication Sub-Tab.

Preferred Authentication settings:

Proxy: If your institution uses a proxy server that is set up in EBSCOadmin, and you would like to apply it to the eBooks app authentication, select it from the drop-down menu. When a proxy is selected this is the only authentication method available for your end users in the app.

Preferred Authentication Order: Select your authentication methods in the order you would like them administered in the app. Note: Proxy users do not need to modify this field; when a proxy is selected this is the sole authentication method available for your end users in the app.

For example, enter cookie,ip,uid (the default setting) to force the app to look for an authentication cookie, and then check their IP address if no cookie is found. If their IP address is not recognized, the user would be prompted for their User ID and password.

Click Submit.

Using Multiple Authentication Methods

Using the Preferred Authentication settings, you can make multiple login methods available to your users. For example, in addition to cookie,ip,uid, you could add CPID (library bar code) and CUSTUID (Patron ID) to the authentication string as shown here:

cookie,ip,uid,cpid,custuid

In this case, after cookie and IP authentication fail, the User ID login screen is displayed with links to Library Bar Code and Patron ID authentication available on the page.

If you do not wish to use "silent" authentication methods (methods that do not require users to manually login) such as Cookie or IP address you could simply enter:

uid,cpid,custid

Available Authentication Methods

The following authentication methods can be set up to log users into the eBooks mobile app.